{"id":16676,"date":"2025-09-03T00:40:50","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T00:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/metallic-minerals-will-host-open-houses-about-la-plata-exploration\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:59:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:59:56","slug":"metallic-minerals-will-host-open-houses-about-la-plata-exploration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/metallic-minerals-will-host-open-houses-about-la-plata-exploration\/","title":{"rendered":"Metallic Minerals will host open houses about La Plata exploration"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Metallic
Metallic Minerals\u2019 exploration target areas within the La Plata Project. Two promising areas \u2013 Morning Star and Evening Star \u2013 fall within Montezuma County.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Metallic Minerals Corp. will host two open houses this week to update the community on its exploratory work in the La Plata Mountains.<\/p>\n

The open houses are scheduled for:<\/p>\n

Thursday, Sept. 4, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Breen Community Building, 15300 Colorado Highway 140.Friday, Sept. 5, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Cortez Recreation Center, 425 Roger Smith Ave.<\/div>\n

The Canadian company has conducted soil and rock sampling in the La Platas for the past five summers, said Bryan Eisenbraum, external relations manager for the La Plata Project.<\/p>\n

Geologists have been on the ground again this year, primarily in Bedrock Creek, where they\u2019ve \u201cidentified a significant resource of copper and other minerals,\u201d he said. They aim to gather 360 soil samples and more than 200 rock samples this year to complement last year\u2019s 478 soil and 329 rock samples.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we find areas with higher levels of copper, silver or other minerals we\u2019re interested in, we sample more densely in those spots,\u201d Eisenbraum said.<\/p>\n

In Bedrock Creek, \u201cwe\u2019re looking at several other interesting spots including Copper Hill, Morning Star and Evening Star,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore drilling an expensive exploratory hole,\u201d rock and soil samples are critical in understanding an area\u2019s subsurface geology, said Greg Johnson, CEO and chairman of Metallic Minerals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still have further work at the surface to see whether things are interesting enough to want to drill into them,\u201d Johnson said regarding those sites.<\/p>\n

To date, Metallic Minerals has drilled eight cores, all from private parcels at the Allard site, he said.<\/p>\n

\"A
A map of the La Plata Project. Copper Hill, Morning Star and Evening Star are all target areas that Metallic Minerals plans to drill exploratory holes once it irons out a few logistics, namely water and a lack of roads.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Johnson said Allard is the only site being considered a resource because of its high mineral concentration. Still, it\u2019s far from production. Economic assessments, feasibility tests and additional drilling are needed \u2013 if it\u2019s mined at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could just be a nutrient-dense fracture zone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

If Allard is deemed \u201ceconomical\u201d and a company chooses to mine it, Johnson said it would be an \u201cunderground mining scenario, similar to the Henderson mine\u201d in Empire, 52 miles west of Denver.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t be a big hole,\u201d he said. \u201cAt Henderson Mine, you can\u2019t tell there\u2019s a mine there; there\u2019s recreation areas all around it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson emphasized the difference between current exploratory work and actual mining. Mining is not guaranteed, he said, and if it happens, it\u2019s \u201cmany, many, many years away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although no additional drilling has occurred in the project zone, the company\u2019s plans are beginning to take shape and will be shared at the upcoming meetings.<\/p>\n

The company holds a Forest Service permit for 14 drill sites, including Morning Star, Evening Star and Copper Hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there are no roads to get in there,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

The permit allows maintenance of existing roads but prohibits building new ones.<\/p>\n

Without road access, \u201cwater is the biggest logistic question,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Should they truck it to a certain point and pump it from there? Fly it in by helicopter? And where should the water come from?<\/p>\n

On the La Plata County side, the company purchased potable water from Durango to \u201ckeep the water in the La Plata Basin,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll look to use Mancos Basin sources on the Mancos side, which is part of what we\u2019re working on now,\u201d he said. \u201cWater is one of the biggest things we\u2019re focused on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Water will be a key topic at the open houses, as it was last fall.<\/p>\n

Other points of discussion include future drilling plans and a comprehensive environmental impact study, which Johnson called \u201ca big part of this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eisenbraum said community outreach has also been a major focus.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrior to significant work in the field and following significant work in the field, we plan to have open houses\u201d so \u201cpeople can be part of the process and understand it,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

For details about the La Plata Project, email info@laplataproject.com<\/a> or visit www.laplataproject.com.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sessions are Thursday in Breen and Friday in Cortez<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,28,83,239,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-16676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-mancos","tag-mining","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16676"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20331,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16676\/revisions\/20331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16676"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=16676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}